S04.E02: Canticle

[Arwenevenstar]

Well, this is the second episode of this series and I find my attention/addiction slipping. Formerly, I have been riveted to this programme...quite the best thing on tele. And I can't put my finger on it. I had hoped episode 1 was just a one off that fell short in some way but no; here I am again... irritated and upset to a degree that I would not have thought possible.

I am very wary of the introduction of Truelove. What with her and Strange and the other three it has all become so busy. And she just doesn't seem to sit right. Is she going to be a love interest for Morse or a regular part of the team; filling in all the answers when there must be some unanswered by Morse. I just wish her gone tbh, but feel I will not get my wish.

And Morse has become quite grim in this series, yet timewise it has not moved on enough I feel to allow for any great shift in his character, although I know the disappearance of Joan is a loss to him. I miss the quiet reflections and nuances of previous times as subtle clues emerged and we were delicately immersed for 90 minutes in the best television for years.

I am hoping for a return to my addiction next week. Endeavour, for me was always about the beautifully drawn characters and the various back stories and interactions. The show now seems very plot driven....almost all about Who Did It, but that has never been the reason why I watched Endeavour. 

There are too many 'Cop Shows' around already...and I don't want Endeavour to join them. Desperately hoping for a return to previous excellence at the moment.

[zxy556575]

I'm sorry the show hasn't been up to par for you, @Arwenevenstar. I'm on the opposite side because I appreciate having a plot and mystery to solve after the disappointment of Sherlock's so far aimless season 4. In truth, I just like watching Shaun and Roger do their thing. I'll even take them morose and crabby.

I could have done without the final scene, though, because what the hell? Joan supposedly left because she needed time away and/or a fresh start after the trauma of the bank robbery. She sneaked out because she didn't want her  parents to try to talk her out of it but I never got the sense that she blamed or was angry at them. Maybe I misinterpreted that, but I don't understand why she's snubbing everyone now. Why call Morse and hang up? I'm going to be cross if she's in some sort of danger and this season turns into the Save Joan Show.

Mrs. Religious Crusader's daughter gave me the creeps. I'm glad Morse didn't fall for her brand of female crazy like he usually does.

I guess the point was to reflect the atmosphere of the time, but the medical predictions of LSD perhaps ruining one's mind forever were silly. Hallucinations for life!

While I appreciate Trewlove being bright and thorough at her job, I don't like the way she's been propping up the plot with info that everyone else has missed. I could maybe see her as a character who reminds Morse of himself and pushes him to re-discover a love for his job or similar cliché, but he's already young and too clever to need that sort of shaking up now. It's not that I want or expect him to be an expert on everything, but Trewlove shouldn't either. Or else she needs to change her name to Siri.

Edited January 17, 2017 by lordonia

[NorthstarATL]

13 hours ago, lordonia said:

While I appreciate Trewlove being bright and thorough at her job, I don't like the way she's been propping up the plot with info that everyone else has missed. I could maybe see her as a character who reminds Morse of himself and pushes him to re-discover a love for his job or similar cliché, but he's already young and too clever to need that sort of shaking up now. It's not that I want or expect him to be an expert on everything, but Trewlove shouldn't either. Or else she needs to change her name to Siri.

I seem to always be defending the character, but I think she (maybe it's easier not to hate her if one imagines a male doing the same things?) just adds a perspective that keeps MORSE from seeming an expert on everything. This ep she was more up-to-date on the pop culture stuff, and that's not necessarily an area I'd see Morse being as clued into. And definitely not the older characters. And, again, they did not insert her into any sequences where she probably wouldn't have logically been. OTOH, if we had a modern "Endeavour" series, he would have Wikipedia or Siri to consult.

 I loved the opening sequence. It was so perfectly "of its time". And, unfortunately, the characters introduced were too broadly drawn for me to take seriously. No one that screams "killer" actually IS the killer.

[DHDancer]

I really liked the episode although there were a couple of jarring moments.   I also agree that Truelove feels wrong: why was she the one to do the briefing of the body in the alley?  Shouldn't that have been done by Strange, or another constable? That felt very forced for me. I didn't mind the reveal about The Kinks being banned in the US -- that did dovetail well.

The other thing was the pop group right at the beginning: what was that all about as it seemed like they were making a music video which felt to me anachronistic.  Maybe it was some taped stuff for the TV show but it was hardly clear.

And yeah, I don't understand the last scene -- it certainly smacks of Joan-in-trouble, but why the anger/frustration/phone throwing by Morse?

[Popples]

I really liked the song at the very beginning sung by Mimi with all the colors and "Jennifer, Sometimes" by Wildwood. If they were real, I'd probably download them from iTunes or Amazon.

The daughter Bettina seemed like the super obvious choice, especially when they said the chocolates weren't poisoned, but had a strong laxative in them. It was really evident that she couldn't stand her mother and was longing to be rid of her.

Morse's expression after Thursday nailed Mrs. Pettybon on sending the threatening letters to herself was terrific. And finding out Thursday smoked pot and Morse tripping balls was highly unexpected. I internally squeed at Thursday's relief of knowing Morse would be all right from being drugged, as opposed to Nick. "What day is it?" "Corned beef."

Ken from Wildwood was Andy the footman from Downton Abbey, and Mrs. Pettybon was Mary Drake from The Thick of It, which made all of the interactions between her and Thursday absolutely hilarious to me.

I really hope the tarot cards at the end of each episode pays off by the end of the series, unlike the stealing the evidence from series 2.

I would straight up watch a show consisting of only Fred and Win.

11 hours ago, DHDancer said:

The other thing was the pop group right at the beginning: what was that all about as it seemed like they were making a music video which felt to me anachronistic.

This came out in 1967, the same year this (and last) series takes place.

[Pogojoco]

I don't quite get the Miss Thursday situation. I feel like I'm missing something. I thought she just left because she wanted to be away and now it's all mysterious and dramatic. 

This is still an incredibly elegant show. And very well acted. 

[molshoop]

On 1/17/2017 at 0:52 PM, Popples said:

I really liked the song at the very beginning sung by Mimi with all the colors and "Jennifer, Sometimes" by Wildwood. If they were real, I'd probably download them from iTunes or Amazon

So did I. They really did a great job of making them believable songs for 1967.  I'm stuck with "Jennifer, Sometimes" in my head!

[humbleopinion]

Joan's phoning Morse...

She is alive.

She is in Lyminton, about a 90 mile distance from home.

She read about him and wanted to hear his voice.

She knows he won't tell Win and Fred about the hang up call being her, on the off chance Morse is wrong and it would break their hearts...again.

About Morse angrily tossing his phone...

Still waters run deep.

[DHDancer]

Hmmm,  I thought I heard Leamington (as in Leamington Spa).  Haven't rewatched as it's really not that important....

[humbleopinion]

Watching it in Spanish so what I heard could be incorrect..

 Leamington Spa is about 50 miles way so most probable.

May as well be a thousand miles away if Joan doesn't call Win or Fred.

Fred shouldn't be so testy with Win.

[Kryptogal]

The daughter of the morality crusader was creepy, but I'm glad she wasn't the killer.  That would have been too obvious.  I really liked that her mom turned out to be sending herself the letters to get publicity.  

I had to look and see if the Kinks were really banned, and they were:  http://ultimateclassicrock.com/kinks-in-america/

It's good that Truelove was the one who knew about The Kinks being banned, and not Morse.  It wouldn't be believable for Morse to know about pop culture.

[Popples]

They've released the full music video for Mimi's "Make Believe" on Vimeo; now it's finally possible to hear the second verse. If only they would do "Jennifer Sometimes". Russell Lewis actually wrote the lyrics and I think he could have a second calling if he's tired of screenwriting, because I'm still singing this song.

[zxy556575]

Oh, I am definitely not playing that! Had the dratted song stuck in my head for days as it was.  ;)

[jjj]

Hello, where is everyone over in the USA?  I did not enjoy this second episode as much as the first, mostly because it was screaming *1960s* in a way that many episodes have not done.  I'm not even sure that I understood the complications of the love triangle or quadrangle, but it really did not matter.  As Morse was walking toward the estate house in the heat toward the end, something made me think, "I would not take any food from these people, and it's lucky that vodka was not spiked with LSD," so when I saw the lemonade, I went, "uh-oh".  Still not sure who those suited thugs were at the television show -- maybe they were part of the Pettibone entourage, as Endeavour suggested.  And there were a lot of literary and musical references in the show, some of which link to other "later" Morse episodes.  And I thought this plot was rather dull.  But the Morse rage at the terminated telephone call was both surprising and satisfying.  Rage at the whole situation, not at Joan. 

Have to watch tomorrow to catch the clue in red letters in the credits -- the last word was "ROAD". 

[Ms Lark]

On 1/15/2017 at 11:35 PM, Lord Donia said:

I guess the point was to reflect the atmosphere of the time, but the medical predictions of LSD perhaps ruining one's mind forever were silly. Hallucinations for life!

Oh, but that was the common medical thought at the time. Not that we cared about destroying brain cells since we were expanding our minds! Turns out the Drs. were wrong and we really did expand our minds! Endeavor on LSD, though, was scary. It was an unwritten rule that you never gave anyone hallucinogenics, especially LSD, without their knowledge and approval! Bad trips and karma all around.

 

On 1/17/2017 at 1:52 PM, Popples said:

And finding out Thursday smoked pot and Morse tripping balls was highly unexpected.

Yep. I really enjoyed this episode a lot, probably because it took me back to my misspent (or not) youth! Oh, and thank you for that "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" video, too! *Sigh.*

[humbleopinion]

I thought I was on LSD when we were treated with that extreme close up of Morse's eyeballs...the ring of light in each, glowing....

Too busy fixating on the actor, Michael Fox who played Andrew from Downton Abbey and couldn't reconcile him as a rock star, Ken Wilding.

Fred still treating Win poorly...do not like this side of him.

Meh episode.

[atlantaloves]

Well, I, for one really enjoyed this episode. Took me back to my checkered youth in the late 60's as well. I want Joan to phone home and then I will be happy happy happy, cause I love the Thursday's. Do we think Morse actually has romantic feelings for Joan folks? (he was really upset that she phoned and hung up). Okay, taa taa from America. I need a cheese and pickle sandwich.

[JudyObscure]

5 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

Turns out the Drs. were wrong and we really did expand our minds!

Are you sure?  One study showed that the brain paths, after small doses of LSD, were wildly messed up, causing a loss of  their own sense of identity so that people no longer knew who or what they were and thought they were the chair or the shoes, hence that temporary feeling of being "one with the universe," or more properly "lost in space."  I think the world is still waiting for the beyond -Beethoven music, the cancer cure or the great novel that should have resulted if all those users really had expanded their minds.

We may never have a definitive study about whether LSD increases the chance of getting schizophrenia, because it would be unethical to ask for volunteers to see if the researchers can cause them to get an incurable, nightmarish disease, but there has been lots of anecdotal evidence indicating that large or repeated doses figure frequently in the background of the mentally ill.  I had one young man with schizophrenia tell me that while taking it for the umpteenth time, "I felt my brain break." This would tie in with researchers saying that, under the influence, people are more aware of their own brain activity. 

I have been  in NAMI classes for family members of the severely mentally ill and heard story after story of LSD ruining promising young lives.

[tootsie]

I watch Endeavour with a persistent melancholy. Not because of the 60's (I would have been a decade or so younger than Morse at the time and do not recall a single enjoyable thing in the decade. Memories of VietNam and repetitive song lyrics are all that linger.) but because I know how the macro story ends. Read all the Morse books, viewed all the Morse shows on PBS, and now here is the young Morse. No curmudgeon. Just an attractive and rather endearing pup. Makes me sigh.

Continue to enjoy all the cinematic images of this show. Especially when Thursday and M are rowing through the night in search of the lost "boy."  Mist and darkness and 2 knights of justice alone in the world. Not as many red herrings as ep 1, an episode I enjoyed far more & have rewatched twice for the pleasure of it. Thought the hypocritical religious person was cliche & seemed superfluous to the story. And frankly, I'm becoming less and less interested in the Joan arc of the story.

But for me an average Endeavour is better than anything else currently on my viewing calendar so no complaint here. More Bright, please, and am becoming quite fond of the bespectacled med examiner. Trewlove shines periodically, which is fine as long as she doesn't cast a shadow on young Morse. 

[attica]

Mrs. Pettybon was clearly a stand-in for real-life scold Mary Whitehouse.

I am growing a bit weary of Morse's constant pique. Can't he ever have any fun figuring out puzzles? 

Roger Allam/Thursday continues to be my favorite.

[Diane M]

I guess I must have dozed off during the reveal of the person who poisoned the chocolates.  Was it Mrs. Pettybon's daughter?

[rhys]

When Morse accepted the collect phone call, I thought it was from Bettina.

I found the crime a bit confusing.

[jjj]

37 minutes ago, Diane M said:

I guess I must have dozed off during the reveal of the person who poisoned the chocolates.  Was it Mrs. Pettybon's daughter?

No, it was Emma Jennifer, the one who tried to kill Morse.  

[Diane M]

That's odd.  Why did she want to kill either the pastor or Mrs. Pettybon?  I thought this was a very confusing episode.  And then there was the ending when Morse threw the phone across the room.  So unlike him.

[SusanSunflower]

The Super-Fan sexual jealousy frustrated a spot-on subtle depiction of just how homophobic the 1960's were ...  in fact, it was a time of fairly peak post-war macho posturing with James Bond rather than John Wayne as role model (see the James Coburn, Flynt movies for still-sexist "thinking man's" counterpoint) ...  which was part of what incited the feminist movement in the late 60's as women (who had been raised to believe they were equals) often found themselves sidelined or treated like helpers, even in the anti-war movement. 

 

Looking on the internet, there were a few (mostly rumored rather than "out") bisexuals (which was often half-closeted, excusing and explaining the "embarrassment" of being caught with a same sex partner)  ... still not many openly gay pop stars ... 

I thought the chocolates were laced with laxatives by the daughter who didn't mean to kill the pastor but who died because of pre-existing health problems, death triggered by the megadose of laxatives (??? because he's a glutton) 

Edited August 28, 2017 by SusanSunflower

[jrlr]

1 hour ago, rhys said:

When Morse accepted the collect phone call, I thought it was from Bettina.

I found the crime a bit confusing.

I thought it was from Bettina too.  I'm not really understanding why the very grounded Joan would make a call like that unless it turns out that she was traumatized by the robbery and is suffering from PTSD.  

Didn't find the crime as confusing as it was overly-convoluted and at times (Pettibon sending herself the threatening messages, Morse drinking the LSD-spiked lemonade) far too predictable.  Well at least Morse and Thursday seem to have reconciled, which is good because I don't like Thursday behaving like such a dick.  

This episode took me back to that era and my participation in all of that stuff.  It happened to suit me well since I was always on the fringe, but I've thought for a long time that we (generationally) opened a pandora's box that might have been better left closed.  

[tootsie]

11 minutes ago, Diane M said:

That's odd.  Why did she want to kill either the pastor or Mrs. Pettybon?  I thought this was a very confusing episode.  And then there was the ending when Morse threw the phone across the room.  So unlike him.

She put laxatives in the chocolate not expecting to kill anyone, but unfortunately the reaction to the laxative exacerbated a preexisting condition of the minister's and killed him. 

[tootsie]

8 minutes ago, SusanSunflower said:

The Super-Fan sexual jealousy frustrated a spot-on subtle depiction of just how homophobic the 1960's were ...  in fact, it was a time of fairly peak post-war macho posturing with James Bond rather than John Wayne as role model (see the James Coburn, Flynt movies for still-sexist "thinking man's" counterpoint) ...  which was part of what incited the feminist movement in the late 60's as women (who had been raised to believe they were equals) often found themselves sidelined or treated like helpers, even in the anti-war movement. 

 

I thought the chocolates were laced with laxatives by the daughter who didn't mean to kill the pastor but who died because of pre-existing health problems, death triggered by the megadose of laxatives (??? because he's a glutton) 

Wasn't it the stalking ex-magazine guy who told Thursday and Strange that he saw a girl in the room with the chocolates and when they said, "Bettina?" he said, "No, I know what she looks like"? I do think there was some too-long explanation from the medical examiner about why laxatives ultimately killed the minister but I fear I briefly lost interest at that spot. Looks like I have a rewatch in my future. 

[SusanSunflower]

I'd forgotten about that "girl in the dressing room" part ... It seemed so heavy-handed but fitting for it to have been the daughter ... but "now that you mention it ..."  There was a lot of heavy-handedness ... absolutely knew the lemonade was spiked and then was wondering if he had done some magic trick drinking but not drinking when it failed to take hold. 

Not in the mood to be picky ... it's one of the only shows that manages to keep my interest for the duration  (too often, with other shows, I find that I've simply wandered off to check the internet and lost the thread) 

[beadgirl]

Quote

The Super-Fan sexual jealousy frustrated a spot-on subtle depiction of just how homophobic the 1960's were ...  in fact, it was a time of fairly peak post-war macho posturing with James Bond rather than John Wayne as role model (see the James Coburn, Flynt movies for still-sexist "thinking man's" counterpoint) ...  which was part of what incited the feminist movement in the late 60's as women (who had been raised to believe they were equals) often found themselves sidelined or treated like helpers, even in the anti-war movement. 

Yup. I found myself incredibly frustrated by the young women in this episode who were all content to lie around looking pretty, in the hopes that a rock star would pay attention to them.  Had they no other hopes, aspirations, ambitions? Other than, you know, murdering to get a rock star? At least Bettina left her mother.

Did not like the stereotypical "Christians bad! Hedonists good!" storyline, but as always I loved Thursday and wife, Morse, and the little we saw of Bright.  My mom has been complaining that Endeavour is really not like Morse at all, but I found his disdain for popular music very Morse-like (and amusing). 

Finally, I'm not sure where the Joan storyline is headed, but it seems to me that if she is refusing to contact her parents to let them know she is ok, that's pretty awful on her part. And if she can't contact them because she needs to be rescued, that's pretty annoying on the writers' part.

[graybrown bird]

Is it sappy to wonder if Joan hung up on Morse because he again (still!) addressed her as "Miss Thursday"?

I can't believe she wouldn't let her parents know she is okay, even if she isn't ready to let them know where she is or what she is doing.

[2727]

I just wish there had been some precipitating incident that set Joan off. I don't mind her running away per se, or the arc of how it's negatively affecting those left behind, but we were given no reason for it. Joan has always been presented as fairly level headed, perhaps a bit flighty over boyfriends but that befits someone her age. For her to take against her loving parents and refuse to contact them is just not believable.

I also dislike the way there are photos of Joan around the house and on Thursday's desk, but none of Sam. Fred and Win? You have another child!

It's the same sort of knowledge gap about what happened between Monica and Morse -- would it kill Russell Lewis to give us a few fucking lines of explanation?

3 hours ago, tootsie said:

But for me an average Endeavour is better than anything else currently on my viewing calendar so no complaint here. More Bright, please, and am becoming quite fond of the bespectacled med examiner.

It's my favorite show and the only one I watch multiple times. I feel very protective/parental about Morse, perhaps because as much as I wish it for him, I know his future does not include personal happiness and fulfillment. There's always an air of underlying melancholy and loneliness.

If I'm not looking at the screen, I often get Bright's and Dr. DeBryn's voices confused. The actors sound very similar.

Edited August 28, 2017 by 2727

[SusanSunflower]

Entirely conjecture -- We were give so little information wrt why Joan felt the need to leave home right there and then that I'm suspecting she may have, in fact, been either running away from some left-over business wrt the bank robbery ... some unknown complication or involvement ... or running to meet up with someone who is providing for her ... maybe ... a refuge or dependency or even some romantic entanglement (???) that may have quickly become intolerable ... 

The phone call certainly suggested Morse-bait of the misunderstood damsel-in-distress ... given Morse's usual bad-picker when it comes to irresistable women (as opposed to the nice women who would eagerly meet his every need) ... Joan may turn out to have a "tipped halo" 

[M. Darcy]

I don't think it's been mentioned - in the final scene there's a closeup of the front page of a newspaper. There's a picture of Colin Dexter with the headline of "local man wins crossword contest". 

[JudyObscure]

4 hours ago, jrlr said:

I've thought for a long time that we (generationally) opened a pandora's box that might have been better left closed.  

Well said.  That's where all my guilt fueled rants about the sixties come from.  I was right there  in my hippie clothes laughing at the doom saying old people like Thursday and taunting the shocked old ladies by kissing my boyfriend in public.  Now, I look at the mess the world is in and feel like it's all my fault.

[howiveaddict]

8 hours ago, graybrown bird said:

Is it sappy to wonder if Joan hung up on Morse because he again (still!) addressed her as "Miss Thursday"?

I can't believe she wouldn't let her parents know she is okay, even if she isn't ready to let them know where she is or what she is doing.

I also thought that was why she hung up on him.

I enjoyed all the hippie stuff.  Of course, I was in grade school in the 60s and feel like I missed out on a lot of that stuff.

[Driad]

I wish they would not threaten Morse’s life almost every episode. It doesn’t create suspense, because he’s the lead, and because we know he will still be working in 20-odd years.

[atlantaloves]

I concur, stop trying to kill and beating up my precious Endeavour. And let's give him a little love life.

[rhys]

12 hours ago, jjj said:

No, it was Emma Jennifer, the one who tried to kill Morse.  

But why would EJ want the Protestant woman sickened? Just cuz she railed on TV about the Wildwoods?

[jjj]

6 minutes ago, rhys said:

But why would EJ want the Protestant woman sickened? Just cuz she railed on TV about the Wildwoods?

I'm going to let someone else take this one -- it has been 24 hours since I saw it, and all I can remember is that it is tied up with the love triangle/quadrangle that I was having trouble keeping track of.  Still not sure how the construction worker, still in his muddy boots, ended up in a ménage with all the musicians and their groupies.  

Just to say something productive:  good to hear the Verdi Requiem near the end -- forget if that one was featured in the original series, but the Mozart Requiem and Fauré Requiem certainly were.

Edited August 29, 2017 by jjj

[beadgirl]

Quote

But why would EJ want the Protestant woman sickened? Just cuz she railed on TV about the Wildwoods?

I think that was in fact the reason -- she couldn't bear criticism about her obsession.  I'm pretty sure Morse said something to that effect.

[SusanSunflower]

arggh ... more crazy (evil, homicidally inclined) person does crazy (evil, homicidally inclined) things because they're crazy luv-struck (evil, homicidally inclined) superfan ... it doesn't make sense that the chocolates would not have been inspected (and tampering found) since the "death threat" note  (I'm pretty sure) was received prior to the TV gig -- and -- I think her most incendiary threats to have the group banned from TV altogether were made during that TV gig (when the chocolates had already been prepared and were being delivered) and in any event  of uncertain power to actually damage the group (or keep them off the air) ... also why laxatives, when she had LSD readily at hand? 

 

Nevermind -- it was clumsy and unlikely and illogical ... I'm going to stop trying to "figure it out" since doing so just makes me peevish. 

Edited August 29, 2017 by SusanSunflower

[kassygreene]

No no no it was 1967 - all the suspicion we take for granted today was still an unnatural response back then.

Laxatives are a weapon of humiliation, and the sort of prank all kinds of people would think was amusing and therefore play.  LSD is an attack from a much smaller group of people, as well as being more dangerous (it's not the trip, it's the physical geography you travel).

I'm trying to remember if the computer bits were right.  I didn't get access to a computer room (as a student) until 1975 (although I wrote programs as early as 72), and my interactions were with punch cards, not terminals.  BUT the complexity of the software, and the time it took to run the numbers, were on the nose.  Using the data that was available from an earlier project was a very good idea; ignoring warrants and privacy was era-appropriate; using the location as a refinement on the search, and narrowing the name part of the search to "starts with A-S" was absolutely correct, and the time it would take to run the search through a database of that population was right too, because back then all of the data would have been stored on the tape, so overnight for the search was a good estimate.  Also an hour or two to reboot was a good estimate too, perhaps even slightly short.  What was wrong was that there didn't appear to be a paper terminal, which is what machines of that era would have used as the operator's console if nothing else.  Yep, a terminal where instead of a screen you typed on an endless roll of paper, and all output from the computer printed there too, that was the standard primary interface to a computer.

Anyway, the setup of the search algorithm made the whole thing worth it for me.  

Edited August 29, 2017 by kassygreene

[atlantaloves]

You are totally right, they did use paper terminals in 1967....Kudos...you are as old as I. 

[beadgirl]

Quote

Laxatives are a weapon of humiliation, and the sort of prank all kinds of people would think was amusing and therefore play.

My grandmother loved to send boxes of chocolates to family and friends, and eventually she learned they weren't arriving -- someone in the post office was stealing them. So with the next box, she carefully injected (or maybe painted? not sure how easy it would have been to get syringes in the first half of the 20th century) laxatives in/on the bottom of each chocolate.  After that, her packages arrived at their destinations.

[catrice2]

On 1/15/2017 at 4:57 PM, Arwenevenstar said:

Well, this is the second episode of this series and I find my attention/addiction slipping. Formerly, I have been riveted to this programme...quite the best thing on tele. And I can't put my finger on it. I had hoped episode 1 was just a one off that fell short in some way but no; here I am again... irritated and upset to a degree that I would not have thought possible.

I am very wary of the introduction of Truelove. What with her and Strange and the other three it has all become so busy. And she just doesn't seem to sit right. Is she going to be a love interest for Morse or a regular part of the team; filling in all the answers when there must be some unanswered by Morse. I just wish her gone tbh, but feel I will not get my wish.

And Morse has become quite grim in this series, yet timewise it has not moved on enough I feel to allow for any great shift in his character, although I know the disappearance of Joan is a loss to him. I miss the quiet reflections and nuances of previous times as subtle clues emerged and we were delicately immersed for 90 minutes in the best television for years.

I am hoping for a return to my addiction next week. Endeavour, for me was always about the beautifully drawn characters and the various back stories and interactions. The show now seems very plot driven....almost all about Who Did It, but that has never been the reason why I watched Endeavour. 

There are too many 'Cop Shows' around already...and I don't want Endeavour to join them. Desperately hoping for a return to previous excellence at the moment.

Parts of this sums up exactly how I have been feeling, but that started in the last series. 

[j5cochran]

A smidge off-topic but kinda fun:  One of Roger Allam's previous jobs was on the radio show Cabin Pressure.  He plays the first officer in a small, one-plane charter airline (or "airdot", as a single plane can not be put in a line!). His character, Douglas Richardson, was a "sky god" sort of pilot, married multiple times, irresistible to women, but a bit on the shady side.  In one episode, he remembers his first wedding (Carolyn is played by Stephanie Cole and Martin is Benedict Cumberbatch):

Quote

DOUGLAS: Oh, the first one was the best. Soho, nineteen seventy-seven, with my brother, Jeffrey Bernard, Peter Cook, and a Kink.
CAROLYN: What’s a kink?
DOUGLAS: One of The Kinks.
MARTIN: Which one?
DOUGLAS: Oh, I know nothing about pop music. Whichever one it is that can fit three golf balls in his mouth.

 When Wildwood gets the gig to open for the Kinks, I got the giggles.

[Popples]

@j5cochran I send you this gif, because I could only like your post once. I LOVE Cabin Pressure so much!

[j5cochran]

2 hours ago, Popples said:

@j5cochran I send you this gif, because I could only like your post once. I LOVE Cabin Pressure so much!

Cabin Pressure got me through six months of chemo, four years ago.  I adore it! And we quote it in my family all the time. 

Oops, back on topic -- is it possible that Douglas Richardson, Sky God, ever met Fred Thursday and Endeavour Morse?  I can imagine Douglas in Oxford in the sixties, chasing after sweet young things, but he would not likely get involved in a murder.  Just a bit of innocent smuggling!

[sugarbaker design]

On 8/28/2017 at 2:59 AM, jjj said:

Have to watch tomorrow to catch the clue in red letters in the credits -- the last word was "ROAD". 

I caught Goldhawk Road.

Edited August 31, 2017 by sugarbaker design